A Marine Lost Long Ago Arrives Home, Via Bradley Airport

Marine Capt. Richard Vincent's remains were flown to Bradley International Airport on Wednesday. Vincent died 71 years ago in World War II in the Pacific battle of Tarawa. His body was uncovered during a construction project last year. A burial with full military honors was scheduled for Thursday in his hometown of Westfield, Mass.

WINDSOR LOCKS — When Delta flight 1698 arrived at gate A10 at Bradley International Airport Wednesday, passengers were asked to remain in their seats so that another passenger could deplane first.

Outside the McDonnell-Douglas MD-88 airliner, a Marine honor guard, Massachusetts and Connecticut state troopers, airport firefighters, veterans and others stood at attention as the flag-draped casket carrying the remains of Marine Corps Capt. Richard W. Vincent was eased from the cargo hold.

The Marine honor guard carried the remains to a waiting hearse for the final leg of Vincent's trip home to Westfield, Mass., from Tarawa, where Vincent and 1,500 other Marines and sailors died in the three-day battle for the Pacific atoll.

Vincent, who served with Company D, 2nd Battalion, 18th Marines, 2nd Marine Division at Tarawa, was among 990 Marines who died in the battle, the second offensive in the Pacific during World War II.

After a bombardment by Navy ships and attacks by Navy dive bombers, the landing craft carrying the Marine assault troops headed for the beach. Most of the boats got hung up on a barrier reef around the island. The Marines jumped into neck-deep water and began to wade hundreds of yards to shore.

Japanese machine gun and artillery fire took a devastating toll. Vincent fell on Nov. 20, 1943, the first day of the battle. The Navy lost 687 men in the three days of fighting. The staggering casualties at Tarawa shocked the nation.

Of the nearly 4,000 Japanese defenders, only 17 were still alive when the battle ended on Nov. 23. Of 1,200 Korean laborers on Tarawa, 129 survived.

The dead were placed in shallow graves and covered quickly. Many were identified later, but many of the Marines whose burial places could not be found were classified as missing in action.

Jim Adams, a funeral director at Firtion-Adams Funeral Service in Westfield, said Vincent's remains and his dog tags were found during a construction project at Tarawa's airport. He'd been in a mass grave that contained the remains of 514 Marines. He was 25 when he died.

Vincent's remains were recovered in June 2013 by a team from History Flight, a non-profit organization that has worked to repatriate the remains of missing service members from battles in the Pacific. The organization's founder, Mark Noah, has provided money for recovery efforts in the Caroline, Marshall, Palau and Gilbert Islands, and has led and funded the majority of the expenses of History Flight's two search missions to Tarawa Atoll.

At a lab in Hawaii, the remains were compared with DNA from two relatives, a niece and nephew, and on Oct. 21, 2014, Vincent was identified.

After losing their son in the war, Walter and Jannie Vincent purchased a plot for him at Westfield's Pine Hill Cemetery and put up a grave stone that was inscribed "In Memory of Our Son, Richard, 1st LT. U.S.M.C." Jennie Vincent died in 1946 and Walter Vincent died in 1950.

Thursday afternoon, Vincent's surviving relatives, who'd traveled from Colorado and Texas, arrived at the funeral home. They spent some time with the casket, and they headed to the cemetery, where Vincent was buried in the family plot.